MARYAM HAJIALIGOL

MARYAM HAJIALIGOL is an award-winning classical guitarist, using her passion for performance and her experience in education to promote guitar in the world of classical music and beyond.  She demonstrates with her work that guitar can and does transcend different styles, eras, and people, on all kinds of stages.  

 

Maryam began playing guitar in a class when she was in middle school, and the opportunities afforded to her throughout her public school music education has fueled her excitement for these programs. Her experience in education includes time spent teaching for the Aspen Music Festival & School’s Afterworks program, the nonprofit organization Lead Guitar, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s Education Program, and the Yale University Music in Schools Initiative.  She has also given performances and participated in presentations for the U.S. Department of Education, the National School Board Association, and at state music education conferences as an advocate of guitar programs in schools. In addition, Maryam was recently a fellow with the Yale President’s Public Service Fellowship, in which she worked for the City of New Haven Department of Arts and Culture in developing an anti-racism campaign and initiative for arts and cultural organizations. 

 

A passionate performer, Maryam takes a special interest in exploring repertoire written by composers who are members of groups which have been historically underrepresented in classical music.  As part of this interest, she recently undertook a successful month-long social media project in which she performed and shared music exclusively written by composers from Africa and the African diaspora. She also enjoys sharing contemporary compositions and chamber music with audiences, and has premiered several new works to add to the guitar’s solo and chamber repertoire, furthering her goal of promoting her instrument’s presence in classical music. She has given performances at venues such as the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Cathedral of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City. Maryam has performed in masterclasses for renowned guitarists such as Judicaël Perroy, William Kanengiser, and Rene Izquerdo, and spent a summer as a student of Sharon Isbin at the Aspen Music Festival and School. She obtained her Bachelor’s of Music degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Jason Vieaux and Colin Davin, and received her Master’s of Music studying with Benjamin Verdery at the Yale School of Music.

 

Maryam is originally from the Washington, D.C. metro area and now lives in Brooklyn, NY. She is currently on the faculty at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, the Smith School of Music, and the Ezra Guitar School.